4/15 – RegASouth Roundup and Individuals Check In!

Thank goodness the weather is starting to shape up because we are finally getting some great outdoor tennis, which seems to be opening up fantastically large black holes or setting the stage for some real good barn burning! That’s what we live for at The Blog and what you, the readers, should live for as well, so it’s a win win all around. Today we are diving in to a quick conference roundup as well as checking in on the current ITA standings (spoiler alert, they need some work), so before I give away too much, let’s dive in!

Rapid Reaction Conference Roundup

CAC – This has been smooth sailing for Mary Wash up to this point and I don’t see that changing. CNU has taken a bit of a dip from two seasons ago where they actually beat an imploding Eagles squad, but this year it has been a different story with their most recent loss to the Seagulls of Salisbury. That being said, HUGE PROPs to Salisbury who has seemed to continue to get better over the years.

Centennial – Hopkins is still in the driver’s seat and Swarthmore doesn’t quite look like they have what it takes. At this moment in time though, Haverford is actually ranked ahead of Swarthmore in the conference standings, but they haven’t played Swarthmore or Hopkins yet. The Black Squirrels definitely have a chance against Swarthmore. I am intrigued. Dickinson and F&M are still closing the gap and a notch below, but this conference will get interesting in the coming years.

ODAC – Eh, not much to see here. Washington and Lee is pretty firmly in control of this conference and I don’t see them losing to anyone. If anyone beats them, it will be Virginia Wesleyan, but they aren’t ready yet. Look for that matchup April 23rd. Guilford and Hampden-Sydney are worth at leaving giving shout outs to as well. I am especially intrigued with the future of Hampden-Sydney. With a first year coach and a very nicely built schedule, I can definitely see this team getting good in the next couple of years.

SAA – Sewanee is good this season and right in the middle of the big ole black hole in the middle of the rankings. Rhodes is finally playing like the team we expected them to be and could threaten the Tigers in the near future… Oglethorpe is finally getting back on the right track with a big win over Millsaps for third place. The loss of some key seniors has hurt Millsaps this season and with the loss of a couple more after this year, first year coach Davis Elkins better be hitting the recruiting trail hard.

USA South – I really don’t need to say anything. The Battling Bishops are the best and other teams need to make like tomatoes and ketchup.

Individual Updates

These blurbs are based off of the rankings that were released on April 11th. If you do not know the criteria, the top 7 players in singles and 3 teams in doubles from each region are granted auto bids into individuals. The remaining 4 singles and 4 doubles spots are at large bids granted to the “next best” 4 regardless of region. So with that all in mind, I am going to dive into the top 5 singles players and top 3 doubles teams from the RegASouth!

Singles

Andres Carro (Sewanee, Regional Rank: 3) – I am actually surprised the Tiger is ranked this high… He comes into the rankings at #3 with a record of 11-9 on the season. While almost, if not all of his losses came against players that have a legitimate shot at NCAAs, his win resume really only includes Matt Miles of UMW who is ranked #10 in the region. The good news is that almost all of his losses are out of region, which is very very helpful. I am not going to call Carro a lock, but if he can run the table the rest of the season, I would not be surprised to see him in Kalamazoo this postseason.

Dominic Lacombe (CNU, Regional Rank: 7) – Lacombe currently holds the last spot in the auto bids, but that is definitely about to change with his most recent loss to Salisbury’s Alex Angradi. His best win comes against UMW’s Matt Miles (are we seeing a trend here?) and I definitely see him dropping soon with a fairly slim chance of making NCAAs with other players dropping from the top and him running the table the rest of the season.

Alex Angradi (Salisbury, Regional Rank: 12) – Angradi is actually a transfer from D1 College of Charleston and has been a very very nice addition to this Salisbury squad. He has a couple of not so great out of conference losses, but overall a pretty good year. I don’t think he has the best chance of NCAAs this season because he didn’t play ITAs, but he will be a name to watch out for next season.

Josh Moskovitz (Haverford, Regional Rank: 13) – Moskovitz set himself up pretty well after a great Quarterfinal ITA run, but hasn’t capitalized on the opportunity in the regular season. His biggest loss to put him out of contention was the loss to Leonid Sorkin of Dickinson. Sorkin has a ton of potential, but has been inconsistent. I wouldn’t call this loss surprising but definitely hurts his chances of individuals.

Davis Plummer (Millsaps, Regional Rank: 14) – Plummer is 9-3 on the season and with one solid win over Rhodes’ Ritwik Chatterjee and one not so great loss to Oglethorpe’s Walker Benson. While Benson hasn’t been bad by any means, this loss is enough to keep Plummer out of individuals. This on top of the fact that he didn’t have a chance to make a deep run at ITAs.

Doubles

Kukutla Motlojoa/Daniel Blonquist (Southern Virginia, Regional Rank: 4) – Well this was a little bit of a surprise when I opened up the rankings… Granted this team only has one loss on the season, it’s to a not so great Haverford team that’s not even in the rankings. Without any high quality wins, I don’t see this lasting unfortunately. Their chances for NCAAs are not very great.

Roberto Puig/Ioannis Brokakis (NC Wesleyan, Regional Rank: 5) – The Battling Bishop duo has been pretty decent this season with notable wins over a UMW’s Miles/Hutchison and Hopkins’ Gu and Cartledge, but notable losses to CNU’s Macy/Mason and TCNJ’s Michibata/Gavornik. Puig and Brokakis are on the outside looking in, but I don’t think they have enough of a resume to squeak into individuals.

Ryan Macy/Andy Mason (CNU, Regional Rank: 7) – Once again, a recent loss to Salisbury will definitely hurt this team’s chances. While they have notched a win over the NC Wes team that’s ranked above them, they also have losses to Hopkins and UMW on top of the Seagulls loss. Two teams that NC Wes happened to beat. Had they beaten CMS and Redlands, that would have definitely given them a chance to sneak in based off of out of region wins, but unfortunately, they couldn’t do get the job done and will most likely be out of individuals.

If I am being completely honest, I am very disappointed in these ITA rankings. It truly feels like there was minimal effort put into them and I sincerely hope that the NCAA committee takes their time and due diligence to make sure they get the right people into individuals. Come closer to NCAA time, I will definitely revisit these and hopefully there are improvements. Fingers crossed! What do you guys think? Who do you think deserves a shot at individuals? Sound off in the comments, @ me on Twitter or send me an email! Until next time, RegASouth out!